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Fruits, Vegetables and Your Brain

We know from recent studies that following a Mediterranean-style diet
reduces your risk of Alzheimer's and can also slow the normal decline
in cognition as one ages. I've written about how drinking
juice, a good source of polyphenols, can also help you reduce
your risk of Alzheimer's, and I've also reported on how eating
fish can also help you avoid mental decline.

Researchers in The Netherlands
decided to look at the amounts of fruits and vegetables in one's
diet and whether that would impact cognitive decline (Brit J Nutr 2011;5(106):752-761).
They made use of information gathered in a long-term, large scale
dietary study of over 7700 men and women who were between the ages
of 20 and 59 at the start of the study, which began in 1987 and lasted
through the present day.

In 1995, the study designers introduced
cognitive testing for a random sample of those participants who were
45 or older. The first set of four standard cognitive tests was performed
in between the years of 1995 and 2002, then 5 years later the same
tests were performed again to a total of 2,613 men and women. On
both occasions the participants responded to a food frequency questionnaire
which asked them to report on their consumption of 178 different
foods over the past year.

The researchers focused their attention on four specific food groups:
fruits, vegetabes, legumes and juices, with subdivisions of each
group (for example: "fruit" included both fruits and nuts, while
"vegetables" was subdivided into leafy, fruiting, root vegetables,
etc.). The amounts of each group that the participants ate was grouped
into five categories of intake, from least to most, and then compared
with that subject's scores in the cognitive tests. Finally the researchers
compared the earlier cognitive scores with the later ones and correlated
those with the individual's food intakes.

Their results are rather confounding. First, at the start of the study
they found that those who reported that they ate the most vegetables
processed information more slowly and were less mentally flexible
than those who ate the least vegetables. On the other hand, after
five years those who ate the least vegetables saw their mental abilities
decline 2 times as much as those who ate the most vegetables.

Other groups and subgroups (specifically nuts, root vegetables and cabbage)
had similar long-term effects, in the sense that higher consumption
meant less decline.

What this means for you

This study focused on those who did not already have dementia or other
cognitive problems and compared information gathered over the long
term. While we can't say that eating more fruits and vegetables will
definitely help you avoid the loss of your mental faculties or slow
down the progression of dementia, this does give you yet another
reason to eat more fruits and vegetables (as if you really needed
any). Pick your favorites, eat them and enjoy them!